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GIFT   OF 


STRATEGIC  LOCATION  OF  ,  :,,; 

[ILITARY  DEPOTS,  ARSENALS,  AND  MANUFACTURING 
PLANTS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


PREPARED  BY  THE  WAR  COLLEGE  DIVISION,  GENERAL  STAFF  CORPS 

AS   A    SUPPLEMENT    TO    THE    STATEMENT    OF    A    PROPER   MILITARY 

POUCY  FOR  THE  UNITED  STATES 


WCD  8121-42 


ARMY  WAR  COLLEGE  :  WASHINGTON 

NOVEMBER.   191S 


532 


WASHINGTON 

QOVIKNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE 

1816 


-^  -^^l  ^^ 


War  Department, 

Dociiment  No.  532. 

Office  of  the  Chief  of  Staff. 


STRATEGIC  LOCATION  OF  MILITARY  DEPOTS,  ARSENALS, 
AND     MANUFACTURING     PLANTS     IN     THE     UNITED 

STATES. 


1.  Paragraph  60  of  the  Statement  of  a  Proper  Military  Policy 
for  the  United  States,  prepared  by  the  War  College  Division,  Gen- 
eral Staff  Corps,  in  compliance  with  instructions  of  the  Secretary  of 
War  and  submitted  September  11, 1915,  is  as  follows: 

60.  As  a  general  military  principle,  no  supply  depot,  arsenal,  nor  manufac- 
turing plant  of  any  considerable  size,  supported  by  War  Department  appropri- 
ations for  military  purposes,  should  be  established  or  maintained  east  of  the 
Appalachian  Mountains,  west  of  the  Cascade  or  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains,  nor 
within  200  miles  of  our  Canadian  or  Mexican  borders,  and  steps  should  be 
taken  gradually  to  cause  to  be  moved  depots  and  manufacturing  plants  already 
established  In  violation  of  this  military  principle. 

2.  The  soundness  of  the  general  principle  of  establishing  perma- 
nent Government  arsenals  and  supply  depots  at  a  safe  distance  from 
national  frontiers  seems  so  clear  that  no  lengthy  discussion  or  ex- 
planation of  paragraph  60,  just  quoted,  seems  necessary.  It  may 
be  of  service,  however,  to  illustrate  graphically  the  trouble  liable  to 
arise  from  violation  of  this  cardinal  principle. 

First,  take  the  case  of  France  in  1870,  during  the  war  with  Ger- 
many, and  note  the  handicap  imposed  upon  her  by  the  capture  of  a 
number  of  her  arsenals,  due  to  their  faulty  location. 

Plate  I  tells  the  story  at  a  glance.  It  shows  the  positions  of  the 
principal  arsenals  and  depots  as  they  existed  at  the  outbreak  of 
hostilities.  The  shaded  portion  indicates  the  territory  eventually 
occupied  by  the  invader.  Attention  is  especially  invited  to  the  prox- 
imity to  the  frontier  of  Douai,  La  Fere,  Metz,  Mutzig,  Strasbourg, 
and  Besancon.  All  were  captured  except  the  first  two,  and  these 
were  cut  off  from  the  French  armies. 

3.  Next  take  our  own  case  to-day,  which  is  even  worse,  from  a 
military  standpoint,  than  that  of  France  in  1870.  Plate  II  shows 
the  present  locations  of  the  principal  Government  arsenals  and  sup- 
ply depots  as  they  exist  to-day  in  the  United  States.  The  shaded 
portions  indicate  reasonable  and  probable  objectives  for  an  invader, 
due  to  our  present  state  of  unpreparedness.  Attention  is  especially 
invited  to  the  proximity  to  the  frontiers  of  all  our  arsenals  and  sup- 
ply depots  except  Rock  Island,  Omaha,  Fort  Leavenworth,  St.  Louis, 

30669°— No.  632—16  (3) 

667389 


and  Jeffersonville.     Our  handicap,  if  these  places  were  captured, 
can  not  be  overestimated. 

4.  Plate  III  shows  the  locations  of  some  of  our  more  important 
privately  owned  manufactories  of  war  munitions,  such  as  cartridge 
cases,  fuses,  shells,  explosives,  ammunition,  binoculars,  pistols,  wag- 
ons, rifles,  and  bayonets. 


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PLATE  I. 

Fbancs  in  1870. 

notes  showing  obnebal  chabacteb  of  stobes  ax  the  places  indicated. 

1.  Toulouse  :  Cannon  foundry,  artillery  forges,  powder  mills,  arsenal,  military  magazines. 

2.  Chateauroux :  Carriages  of  the  military  train. 

3.  Cbatellerault :  Manufactory  of  small  arms. 

4.  Rennes :  Arsenal. 

5.  St.  Etienne :  Manufactory  of  small  arms. 

6.  Versailles :  Large  park  of  artillery,  camp  equipment. 

7.  Lyons :  Arsenal. 

8.  Tulle :  Manufactory  of  small  arms. 

9.  Vernon  :  Manufactory  of  the  equipages  of  the  military  train. 

10.  Besancon :  Foundries,  artillery  arsenal. 

11.  Mutzlg:  Manufactory  of  small  arms. 

12..Metz:  Arsenal,  cannon  foundry,  powder  mills,  engineer  equipment. 

13.  Douai :  Arsenal,  cannon  foundry. 

14.  La  Fere :  Artillery  arsenal. 

15.  Strasbourg :  Artillery  arsenal. 

682 


PLATE  II. 

NOTES    SHOWING   GENERAL    CHARACTCR   OF   STORS8   AT   THB    PLACKS   INDICATED. 


1.  Augusta  :  Arsenal. 

2.  Washington  :  Engineer  depot,  medical  depot. 

3.  Philadelphia  :  Quartermaster  depot,  arsenal. 

4.  Plcatlnny  :  Powder  manufactory. 

5.  New  York :  Arsenal,  signal  corps  depot,  medical  depot,  quartemuuster  depot. 

6.  Springfield  :  Arsenal. 

7.  WatervUet :  Arsenal. 

8.  Jeffersonvllle :  Quartermaster  depoL 

9.  St.  Louis  :  Quartermaster  depot,  medical  depot,  engineer  depot. 

10.  Chicago  :  Quartermaster  depot. 

11.  Rock  Island  :  Arsenal. 

12.  Fort  Leavenworth  :  Engineer  depot. 

13.  Omaha  :  Signal  corps  depot. 

14.  San  Antonio  :  Arsenal. 

15.  Vancouver  Barracks  :  Engineer  depot. 

16.  San  Francisco  and  vicinity  :  Arsenal,  quartermaater  depot,  slsiuU  corps  depot,  medical 

depot. 

082 


PLATE  III. 
The  following  places  are  Indicated  on  this  plate : 


Watertown,  N.  Y. 
Ilion,  N.  Y. 
Chicago,  111. 
AUentown,  Pa. 
Giesboro,  D.  C. 
Worcester,  Mass. 
Bridgeport,  Conn. 
New  Haven,  Conn. 
Alton,  111. 
Lowell,  Mass. 

6S2 


Rochester,  N.  Y. 
Cleveland,  Ohio. 
Detroit,  Mich. 
Cincinnati,  Ohio 
Eddystonc,  Pa. 
Schenectady,  N.  Y. 
Richmond,  Va. 
Boston,  Mass. 
Philadelphia,  Pa. 
South  Bethlehem,  Pa. 


Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Pittsburgh,  Pa. 
Wilmington,  Del. 
Parlin,  N.  J. 
Pompton  Lakes,  N. 
Lynn,  Mass. 
Harrison,  N.  J. 
Harrisburg,  Pa. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  Sl.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 

10  1930  — 


W^ 


^Ah  P.  5 1953  LP 


fl- 


JAN  5    1956   U) 


JAN    9  1953 


LD21-100m-7.'83 


667389 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CAUFORNIA  UBRARY 


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